Second-tier Status Leaves Officials Stunned

January 15, 2006|By BRUCE BERLET; Courant Staff Writer

Shock. Disbelief. Sadness.

No one connected with the PGA Tour stop in Connecticut wanted to add betrayal to their reaction after learning the tournament won't be part of the FedEx Cup competition in 2007. But money can be several Tiger Woods drives longer on the importance scale than loyalty on the new-look tour.

Tournament officials were stunned because they had a deal with a new sponsor to replace Buick all but complete with a summer date, then were nixed by the tour at the last minute and reduced to second-tier status.

``We thought we had a complete package, which is why we were all so surprised,'' tournament director Nathan Grube said.

Tournament officials wouldn't name the potential sponsor.

Perhaps no one felt worse than Ted May, whose father, Ed, helped found the tournament and was co-chairman of the inaugural Insurance City Open at Wethersfield Country Club in 1952.

May carried on his father's legacy by working with the Greater Hartford Jaycees for years before becoming chairman of the Greater Hartford Open in 1983, the tournament's final appearance in Wethersfield. The event went to Cromwell the next year, and May has been the liaison between the tournament and the tour ever since.

May also was integral in the title sponsor search committee that saved the tournament in 2003, raising $4 million through a collection of smaller sponsors after Canon withdrew. Buick then rescued the event, which has raised more than $25 million for Hartford area charities. Proceeds had dropped to about $500,000 last year, largely because of bad dates for a second consecutive year.

Roger Gelfenbien, chairman of the title sponsor search committee, said officials were ``caught off guard'' and thought the tournament would be part of the 39 events in the FedEx Cup competition, a season-long points program for players, ending with the Tour Championship Sept. 13-16.

Instead, they were left scrambling to find a title sponsor as one of six or seven tournaments in the ``Quest for the Card'' segment of the schedule. The field for those events, which will be played in September and October, will consist mostly of players trying to retain or earn their tour cards and will be televised by The Golf Channel.

This year's Buick Championship will be June 29-July 2 at the TPC at River Highlands in Cromwell.

While a tournament that has been on tour for more than a half-century was demoted, the 3-year-old 84 Lumber Classic, hosted by millionaire Joe Hardie, got the spot supposedly reserved for the Cromwell event. And the Barclays Classic in Harrison, N.Y., which draws some of the smallest crowds on tour, and the 3-year-old Deutsche Bank Championship, played on a course in suburban Boston with limited room for crowds but benefiting Woods' foundation, are in the three-event Championship Series leading into the Tour Championship.

The suddenness of the change hasn't given anyone tied to the tournament time to think about alternatives such as the Champions or LPGA Tours. Marquee names on the Champions Tour play most events, and LPGA Tour players must play each tour stop once every five years.

LPGA officials have been trying to land an event in Connecticut. With Annika Sorenstam, and youngsters such as Paula Creamer, Morgan Pressel and Michelle Wie, the LPGA might be an alternative.

For now, officials will mask their disappointment and accept the tour-financed changes to the TPC. They will be receiving subsidies from the tour, but the dates could slice further into attendance and cause difficulties recruiting sponsors and volunteers.

``We want to continue to raise money for local charities, and we'll see if this works,'' Gelfenbien said.